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Friday, January 19, 2018

The Orange and Alexandria Railroad #virginiapioneersnet #vaancestors

Daniel Hooe is Enriched by his Timely Investment in the Orange and Alexandria Roadroad

On May 28, 1848, the O & A Railroad was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly to connect from Alexandria to Gordonsville and finally to the Virginia Central Railroad in Orange County. As soon as the stock was issued to charter the company, prominent politicians in the Arlington area invested their money. One, David F. Hooe, purchased Virginia State Stock, $29,,887.29 ($50 per share); 88 shares of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad ($15 per share), and a huge investment in the Stock Corporation of Alexandria, $20,000. The transactions were headed " District of Columbia, Washington County." The inventory of the Hooe estate was filed 1872 in Arlington, Virginia and may be viewed on this website. In 1854, it moved further southward from Charlesville to Lynchburg, with connections to the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and the South Side Railroad. Finally, it connected with the Manassas Gap Railroad to the Shenandoah Valley, which made this railroad just about perfect to help move troops and supplies during the War Between the States. However, in the beginning it was resigned to cheaply ship produce and goods while transporting passengers from Washington to Lynchburg. During 1861, barricades were erected on Duke Street in Alexandria, Virginia, to protect this railroad from the Confederate cavalry. In 1861 when the Union Army attempted to gain control of Manassas Junction from Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, this maneuver led to the first Battle of Bull Run.